the Rose
by Eliza Spootkitten
Summary: I suck at sums. Mrs. L finds a girl who seems strangely familiar. Will she be able to help her and herself by starting a new life with Mr. T and Toby? too many genres to pick just 2. Mark/OC, A bit Sweenett. Other genres: angst, hurt/comfort, family,drama
1. trampled Rose

She didn't know how long she ran, but she hoped it was far. Letting herself think about this momentarily her legs started to ache and she gasped for air as her lungs began to feel as though they would collaps. They felt cold. A burning cold. She glanced behind her to see if it was safe to stop. She kept the speed until she found and allyway and collapsed there as not to be disturbed by passers by even though it was dark. She rolled onto her back and kicked her legs in the air for they were sore from stopping so quickly. She wanted to breath without breathing, heaving the firey ice out of her lungs with every hopeless gasp. After an eternity her breath became even and comfortable. She stretched out her limbs and smiled. Finally, she would be able to sleep comfortably.

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"Thank you again, sir, for helpin' me get her inside." Mrs. Lovett's voice was soft as not to wake the girl sleeping in the other room.  
"My pleasure, ma'am." He tipped his hat and stepped out of the door that Mrs. Lovett held open for him obligingly.

Mrs. Lovett walked to where the pitiful creature lay and sat beside her. With her finger she gentley moved strands of ratty auburn curls from the girl's pale face. 'Cor, you can't be more than 15." Mrs. Lovett's thoughts whispered in her mind. She examined the girl's thin, pastey white figure. 'She'd be so beautiful if she had been taken care of proper." She stood up cautiously and strolled to the kitchen. 'She ought 'a wake up soon. Better have somehtin ready for her to eat.' Mrs. Lovett looked for something more nutritious than the pies she served her "costomers". 'Be surprized if she can even move.'

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"Come back here!" Mrs Lovett shouted after the girl stagering into the kitchen. The soothing words she had offered the girl when she awoke seemed to fall on deaf ears and her gentle cooing had slowly turned into shouting. Mrs. Lovett felt almost as if this were a normal routine.

The girl was so confused. She didn't know what was happining. She vaguely remembered an ally. Her stupid mind had put a block on her thoughts. Everything was blurred in her mind. It was as if some other force was controlling her body; some force that knew she was frightened. She remembered waking up to an unfamiliar face surrounded by a bush of almost perfect auburn curls. She knew the woman was saying something, but she couldn't understand a word. It didn't even sound like a language, just asenine babbling mixed up in her clouded mind.  
She could tell vaguely that the woman was yelling, but she was more afraid of the strange face and her inability to understand what was going on.  
The next thing she knew she was on the floor scooting back quickly against a wall. The woman was so close to her. She couldn't escape.

"It's alright, luv," Mrs. Lovett was now on the floor in front of the girl inching cautiously closer as not to frighten her again. "I ain't gonna harm you." She soothed. The girl, who'se face was expressionless, jerked her knee up a little. Mrs. Lovett looked down at her bare foot and noticed something a bit suspicious. "'Ello, what's this?" She lifted her skirt off of her foot and faund a large red gash. Mrs. Lovett gasped. She thought she noticed something red on her ankle and slowly lifted the skirt higher waiting expectantly for the end. When she saw what it was she felt her heart pound and blood rush. "What the hell happened to you?" She whispered more to herself. Carved onto her leg was the phrase "Property of George Manfield". She inspected her leg for a few moments and saw other little wounds. She dropped the skirt and looked into the girl's amber eyes. Nellie couldn't decipher what she saw in them. The blackness around them made her retinas seem to glow, yet she knew the poor thing must have felt anything but happy. "What is your name darling?" The girl suddenly looked frightened and Mrs. Lovett lifted her skirt to examine her legs. She looked ito the girls eyes as she spoke. "Did they at least have the desency to give you a name?" She saw nothing more on her legs than what she had seen before. Her arms were not covered so she gentley pulled the girl forward to look at her back and the inside of her dress. Maybe they put a name on her clothes.

She didn't like the way she was being handled and pulled away when she saw something in the other room. Mrs. Lovett watched as she ran into the parlor and slowly sink to the floor running her finger along the wallpaper. She outlined a flower on the wall with one finger and raised her freen hand to suck on the tip of her other finger. Mrs. Lovett rejoined her on the floor.

"Do you like the wallpaper?" She cooed (look it up in the dictionary, trust me). The girl jabbed her finger into the flower as if trying to make it come out of the wall. Mrs. Lovett continued to coo at the girl. "Do you like the pretty flower? Is it a pretty rose?" It didn't take her long to realize that this girl was not a normal 15 yr. old. "Rose" Nellie mused. "Well, seeing as how you don't seem to hav a name, what do you say I call you Rose?" She didn't expect to get any sort of response, but then the girl's head turned to her and for a moment she looked as if she understood Mrs. Lovett's words. She moved closer to the older woman and watched her lips with narrowd eyes as if she had never seen such things before. "Do you like the name Rose?" Mrs. Lovett spoke more slowly hoping that the girl understood.

"W, w," She trying to immitate the woman's mouth. That was the first sound Mrs. Lovett heard from her. She seemed to understand what she was doing.

"Rose...?" She was careful to make it clear to the girl.

"W, Wose."

"That's right." She gave a small, warm smile and the emotionless girl allowed her to take her in her arms. Nellie had a strange sense of satisfaction in naming the girl as well as holding her. Something about the girl gave her a strange feeling that she had finally acomplished something that she should have done years ago. The girl had a familiar quality about her (not just her hair), but Nellie just couldn't put a finger on it.

"Rose." She murmured with another satisfied smile. 


	2. Roses mean remember

Knowledge about victorian dresses would come in handy right about now for those of you who don't know much about them. I'm not exactly an expert either, but I try.

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Mrs. Lovett had chased the girl around for about a good half hr. She gave her a bowl of fruit for lunch with her. She wished she had something else to give her, but the money  
Albert had left her after he died had been running out. After lunch Nellie decided that it would be in Rose's best interest to give her some nicer clothes to wear. Of course, she would have  
to go to the market. Her clothes would be too large for the girl's small frame

Rose sat quietly on the bed as Mrs. Lovett got ready and sucked the tip of her finger. (I don't know either, I just thought it would add to the character). Mrs. Lovett was the  
name the strange woman had given herself, but she only managed to get out 'M'. She still wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but she understood that they were supposed to be going  
somewhere. Mrs. Lovett, it seemed, hadn't stopped talking since she started calling her Rose. When she wasn't talking about the plans for the day she was narrating her thoughts and  
actions

"Alright, dearie, let's go."  
Rose hesitated. She still wasn't sure if she liked this woman.  
"C'm on," she held out her hand "nothin' to be afraid of, luv."  
Rose wasn't sure what that meant, but she rose (no pun intended) from the bed and quickly followed.

The trip to the market was a bit nerve wracking for Rose. There were so many people, too many people for her to handle. Her only comfort was that no one seemed to pay  
her any mind. She was free to walk around with them. This was a new experience for her. Mrs. Lovett took her to a shop and bought her a new dress and a few unfamiliar objects. The  
dress was beautiful, at least compared to the one she had been wearing. The new dress was a dark prussian blue. The bottom was pulled up to reveal a bit of yellow underneath. The  
neck line and the pulled up part were lined with tassels (or whatever you'd call them) taupe in color. The neckline was cut low and wide to reveal a bit of shoulder and it had puff sleaves.  
(If you need a help go to the link at the bottom of my page. I did a little... a lot of editing or whatever.) Her old dress was a horrid thing. Black and grey vertical striped house dress with  
a lace collar. (I know they're both ugly, but I have yet to see an attractive looking Victorian style dress. The houses are cool though.) She soon found out that the other objects were under-  
garments such as a corset and bloomers and whatever other crap they wore back then. Mrs. Lovett took her out to stock up on groceries.

"Mrs. Lovett!" A large woman shouted from somewhere in the crowd.

"Mrs. Mooney! How nice to see you again." Mrs. Lovett greeted her with false enthusiasm.

"Business is still going well, I see."

"Marvelously."  
They talked pleasantly, but it was obvious they detested one another.  
"Getting better and better every day."  
The two laughed. It was then that the larger woman noticed the girl peeking out from behind Mrs. Lovett's skirts. Her laugh transformed into almost disgusted curiosity.  
"What is that?" She pointed.  
Mrs. Lovett looked back to find Rose clutching shyly to her dress.

"She's me new assistant, Rose."

"Your assistant?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." She muttered thoughtfully.

"What is it?" Mrs. put a hand on Rose's back defensively. (Defensively? Does that make sense?)

"Well, maybe its not my place to say, but..." she spoke a bit unsurely at first.  
"Well, from one business woman to another, don't you think you should actually have business before you hire anyone to assist you?"  
Mrs. Lovett was angry now.

"I'll have you know that my business is doing just fine, thank you. At least I haven't sunken so low as to steal my neighbors' pets and pop them into pies!" She pounded her  
fists into her hips. By this time Rose had been watching a group of cats that had made themselves at home nearby a booth which held crates of fish and crabs and other seafood of the like.

"Oh!" Mrs. Mooney gasped. "You're just too proud to admit that you don't have the skill to catch one!"  
Mrs. Lovett opened her mouth to yell back, but suddenly she heard an unusual 'meow' at her feet. The two women looked down to see Rose kneeling on the ground trying to  
imitate the cats.

"Meow...meow."  
One of the cats heard her call and took a curious step towards the strange girl.  
"Meow."  
The cat, feeling more confident, pranced forward and Rose offered a hand to the yellow tabby who sniffed at it obligingly. She picked up the cat and cradled it to her chest.  
Mrs. Lovett crossed her arms and grinned mockingly at her rival.

"Hmph!" She gleamed with delight.

"You're just lucky. What are you going to do with it? You said yourself: stealing your neighbors' pets is beneath you."

"That one's a stray." She said nonchalantly still smiling. Mrs. Mooney stalked off in a huff. Nellie put an arm around her shoulder.  
"That's my girl."

"Meow." Rose said holding the cat up higher to show Mrs. Lovett. Her smile only brightened as she gave the girl a squeeze.

"That's right. Meow meow." Mrs. Lovett happily patted the cats nose in return.

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"Come on now, love. You want to look pretty in your new dress, don't you?" Mrs. Lovett helped Rose out of her old dress. She was trying to get her into the bath, but the  
stubborn girl held the towel tightly around her body. She did not want to get into the small tub filled with water.  
"Come on, Rosey. What are you afraid of?" No response. Instead the girl just stared blanly at the tub. "I'll be right here." Nellie crooned as she crossed the room to get closer  
to Rose who merely pulled the towel tighter.  
"You're not afraid of me are you?" Rose looked up at Mrs. Lovett's pale face. Nellie sighed. "Oh, what must I do to get you to trust me?" she asked more to herself as she  
plopped down onto a stool and dropped her head into her hand. She studied the girl's face. She wondered what her skin would look like under all that dirt? Would she have pale skin to  
match her fragile figure to give her a porcelain doll appearance? Suddenly she had an idea. "I'll be right back to you, Rosey. Alright?"  
Rose looked up and watched Mrs. Lovett carefully walk out of the room.

Nellie stepped slowly, looking around her bedroom. 'The trunk', she thought as she hurried towards the old green trunk at the foot of her bed. 'It must be in the trunk.' There  
it was, right at the top. It was a little plush doll. She had no idea where the doll came from, nor could she remember a time when she had thought about it, but something about the girl had  
stirred her memory just enough to remind her that she had it.

"Here we are!" She said cheerily as she entered the room again. "Look, Rosey! What's this?" She cooed. She smiled and slowly brought the doll to Rose just close enough  
for her to touch it. "Isn't it a pretty dolly?" Rose put a finger tip to her mouth and reached out with the other hand to stroke the doll. "Would you like to play with her? Hm? You can  
have it if you get in the bath for Mrs. Lovett. Can you do that for me?" Nellie guided her to the tub.

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Nellie lay on the sofa watching the fire burn out. It was difficult trying to get Rose into the bath, but once she got in she found that she rather enjoyed the water. Perhaps a bit  


too much. After dinner Nellie put her to bed. As soon as she pulled the blanket over her the yellow tabby cat jumped up and curled up next to her. Tomorrow she would see if she could  
use the black cat that followed them home in some of her pies. Rose seemed too attached to the yellow cat.

"I suppose I best be getting myself to bed." Nellie yawned deeply, but she couldn't bring herself to stand up. She just stared at the dim embers until she drifted off into sleep.

_"That's what the Dr. said." Nellie Lovett beamed up at her husband._

_"I just can't believe it! You're really... we're really?" Mr. Lovett was edging on breathless. Mrs. Lovett let out a giddy laugh._

_"That's right... daddy." Nellie smiled. Mr. Lovett gave out a heave of breath which turned into hearty laughter. He lifted his wife off of her chair and spun her around. He set  
her back on her feet and studied her features. He brushed strands of hair from her face. His smile had gone, but his eyes glistened._

_"She's going to look just like you." He whispered. Nellie laughed._

_"What makes you so sure it will be a girl?"_

_"Because you're a girl."_

_"If that logic really worked there would be no men in the world"_

_We're mutants." He smiled, Nellie laughed. "It will be a girl; I promise." _

_Nellie's smile sofened to a grin._

_"She'll have your eyes." She whispered back. They shared a kiss more passionate than words could describe._

_A few months had passed and Mr. Lovett brought home a gift for his expectant wife and child._

Mrs. Lovett jerked awake at the sight of the gift.  
"The doll."


	3. title inside

**You cannot force open the petals of a Rosebud before its time**

When Rose awoke the next day Mrs. Lovett decided to try out her new dress. She helped Rose on with her bloomers (and all that other crap). When she came to the corset, however, there was a bit of a problem. Rose hit the floor at the first pull.

"Rosey! What's wrong?" Mrs. Lovett knelt down to comfort the screaming, writhing girl, but she kicked around too fiercely. "Rosey, calm down, it's alright!" She could do nothing to calm her. She rolled around screaming, clawing at the bodice as if it were killing her. Nellie tried to loosen it, but it didn't seem to have any effect on the poor girl. "Rosey, I can't loosen it anymore, it will fall off!" Rode gave a blood curdling cry. "Alright! I'll take it off. You don't have to wear it. There, isn't that better?" The corset was completely off. Mrs. Lovett would've expected the girl to lie on her back and breathe deeply to catch her breath. Instead she instantly took off running through the house in her underwear. "Oh this girl has too much energy." She limped off after her holding her tired back. "Where does it all come from?"

Later that day Mrs. Lovett took the black cat and she was able to make a few pies. The scent made its way into the streets and attracted a few customers. She tried to get Rose to get more cats, but she had a devil of a time trying to get her to comply. When she did get her out it didn't work. Finally she just gave up.

The following days Rose kept mostly to herself, her cat and her doll. Nellie tried to get her to talk more. She made a few word like sounds, but when Mrs. Lovett tried to teach her to talk she would always end up on the floor in a hissy fit and went back to making baby sounds. (Hence the title).

Rose sat on the floor in the kitchen eating small crackers, the size of our oyster crackers (I don't know if they were around back then, but if they were that's what she was eating). She had figured out where Mrs. Lovett kept the food and she liked to sneak it throughout the day. Mrs. Lovett caught her a few times, but she mostly didn't mind. In fact she was glad, for she was unusually thin (for that day and age. Like Damian from Bride of Chucky with boobs. Small boobs…). Rose held a few crackers in each hand and in each hand she held one between her thumb and forefinger.

"Meow, meow." She said as she hit them together. "Meow, meow." A flash of lightning lit up the room. She looked out the window, the direction of the strange flash of light. She heard a distant rumble. She was, if you'll excuse the expression, struck with curiosity. She stuffed the crackers into her mouth, carefully, one at a time, and crawled over to the window. Another streak of lightning lit up the dark night sky. She stuck her finger in her mouth and gaped in amazement at the strange lights. She didn't notice Mrs. Lovett come in behind her.

"Time for bed, Rosey." Nellie looked at the girl with curiosity. Lightning struck again. She paced over to the girl and saw that she was delighted with the purple and white flashes, eyes widening with every 

flash, drool crawling down her finger and her lower lip (happens to me all the time, hehe). She took out her handkerchief and wiped off Rose's hand and chin…again… and lifted her off the floor. "Come on."

"Unh!" Rose grunted and pulled back slightly, eyes still frantically scanning the clouds.

"I know, you like the lightning," she cooed "but now it's time for you to go to bed." She had her hands on either of her shoulders and tried to get her to walk along with her, but the girl jerked away surprising Mrs. Lovett. Rose suddenly dashed through the house. Mrs. Lovett heard the slam of a door. 'She'll never trust me.'

After she put Rose to bed she got herself ready. She jumped awake at the roar of a thunder bolt. She had never experienced thunder so loud in all her life. It sounded like it was right there in the bedroom with her. 'Perfect.' She thought sleepily. 'I'll never get any sleep tonight.' There was another loud crash and a terrified scream tore through the building. Nellie nearly fell off the bed trying to get to her Rose. She slammed open the door to find Rose sobbing on the bed lost in the heavy blankets. Mrs. Lovett tore through the covers to get to the frightened child. She ripped the aside and lifted her.

"Rosey, it's alright." She soothed. She stroked her hair as she held her close. Another big boom. The girl jumped away and screamed. Mrs. Lovett tried to pacify her and take her in her arms again.

"NO!" Mrs. Lovett struggled to try and hold her, but soon her sobs took over and her body froze and she was able to pull her near enough to hug her head to her stomach. Another blast and another scream. Mrs. Lovett did her best to hush her as she tried to adjust her to a more comfortable position. She managed to scream an incoherent "Make it stop!"

"Alright." She crooned and pressed her hand over Roses ear and held her head tighter to her stmack to try to block out the sound as much as she could. "It's alright, I know." Rose's sobs quieted slightly. "Shh--."

Eventually Rose fell back to sleep and Mrs. Lovett gently set her back down and slid the quilt up to her collar. She lingered on the side of the bed for a few moments longer. The dim light from the candles gave her skin a soft golden glow. She rose from the bed and turned to leave, but looked back at the sound of a whimpering child. She watched as the girl's helpless whining became more frustrated and sat back down on the edge of the bed.

"Mrs. Lovett's here." Her voice was just above a whisper, but the sound of it made the girl's cries cease instantly. Mrs. Lovett smiled and placed a loving hand on her arm. 'She trusts me.'

Rose woke up the next morning with a sore neck and sore back. She felt no pillow under her head and the bed seemed particularly uncomfortable. She opened her eyes only to find darkness. She tried to sit up, but her head collided with something just a few inches from her face. Fear swept over her and she was about to cry out when she heard the comforting sound of Mrs. Lovett's voice. She wanted desperately to find her so she stretched out her arms and found that there was some sort of cloth on one side. She pushed it up and scrambled out from under the bed. (Heeheeheeheehee…) She walked dizzily through the hall, still a bit disoriented from sleep.

"Well I can't say the years have been particularly kind to you, Mr. Barker." She heard Mrs. Lovett say. She was almost to the end of the hall when she heard a strange voice shout. It frightened her.

"No! Not Barker, that man is dead. It's Todd now, Sweeney Todd. And he will have his revenge." The pale faced man looked up to see a frightened girl clinging to the wall at the end of the hallway, sucking her finger. He frowned. "Who is that?" He whispered.

Mrs. Lovett turned around and stretched out an arm to the girl.

"This is Rose." Rose moved to the baker who put her arm around her. "I picked her up off the streets about a month ago. Say 'hello' Rosey." Rose looked up at Mrs. Lovett and hid her face in her bosom. Nellie looked up at the bemused man. "She's very shy. Not that she _can_ say much anyway. We probably frightened her. She's not used to strangers popping in and out of the shop." Rose peeked out at the man who called himself Sweeney Todd, still snuggled close to her new caregiver. "Come on, I'll show you the room upstairs." Mrs. Lovett said to the man, letting go of Rose. There was something about this man, something more than her unfamiliarity with him that greatly disturbed her. But if Mrs. Lovett trusted him then who was she to argue, right? She was having second guesses about Mrs. Lovett.


	4. Roses are red

Sorry guys, I have to use notepad again ANANANANANANANANANANAN

Rose held onto Mrs. Lovett's hand as the four of them walked through the marketplace; Mr. Todd, Mrs. Lovett, Rose and the cat. "He's here every Thursday. Italian." Mrs. Lovett explained to Mr. Todd. "All the rage, he is. Best barber in London they say." Suddenly they stopped. Sweeney started off in the direction of a stationary cart on the side of the road, but Mrs. Lovett stopped him. "Hang on." She pulled him back. Rose looked curiously at him as she noticed that he was hiding something in his coat. She turned at the sound of a drum to see a boy stepping out of the cart. They joined the crowd that gathered around him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please?" He sang. Some of the men, even women, lowered their heads in shameful curiosity when he mentioned the condition of their hair. "Gentlemen, you are about to see something what rose from the dead... on the top of my head." He ripped of his hat to reveal shoulder length blonde hair. Rose wondered why everyone was laughing. He picked up a bottle of what he called 'Pirelli's Miracle Elixir' and explained what it did for his hair. He poured some on the head of a man who had no more hair on his head than a baby's ass and tossed a few bottles out to whoever would catch them. Rose stood bhind Mrs. Lovett and the man standing next to her opened a bottle. Sweeney smelled something.

"Pardon me, ma'am, what's that awefull stentch?" He asked Mrs. Lovett.

"Are we standing near an open trench?" She asked no one in particullar and turned to the man next to her. "Pardon me, sir, what's that awefull stench?" Sweeney took the bottle from the man and sniffed it.

"What is this?" He asked.

"What is this?" Nellie repeated.

"Smells like piss." He stated as Nellie took it from him.

"Smells like, Ew!" She noticed that Rose was curious about it so she gave it back to Mr. Todd and turned her head to Rose. "Wouldn't touch it if I was you, dear."

"This is piss, piss with ink." Sweeney accused and the boy tried frantically to distract the audience.

"Let Pirelli's activate your roots, sir." He shouted.

"Keep it off your boots, sir, eats right through." Sweeney said as he handed the bottle back to the man who nodded in response. Rose noticed how unusually nervous he was.

"Yes, get Pirelli's, use a bottle of it. Ladies seem to love it."

"Flies do to." Mrs. Lovett sounded bored, but the crowd laughed. The boy jumped off the stage as a man dressed in flambouyant costume stepped out from behind the curtain.

"I am Adolfo Pirelli," The tall, ominous looking man introduced himself and blew a kiss to the audience. The look on Mr. Todd's face somewhat amused Rose. He demanded to know who said his elixir was piss. "Who says this?" He growled as he narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. Silence.

"I did." Sweeney announced confidently. He challenged Pirelli to a match (blah, blah, blah). Rose seemed to be the only one who wondered why he was carrying his razors with him. She looked to Mrs. Lovett for assurance, but the woman was too busy admiring Mr. Todd to notice her distress. (I'm tired of typing so basically Rose finds out the boy's name is Toby and he goes up there and Pirelli starts sharpening his razor.) With every swipe of the razor he scraped Toby's hand. Rose winced as Toby fliched and hissed in pain. She had to hide her face behind Nellie's arm until he was finished sharpening. She started watching once again. Pirelli was almost halfway finished, but Mr. Todd, Rose noticed, was still preparing his razors. What happened next was so quick that it confused her.

"The winner is Todd!" The Beadle announced. Pirelli was only half finished. Mrs. Lovett dropped Rose's hand to applaud. Rose saw a sly grin on her face, but she thought she noticed something else in her eyes. The cat seemed to notice how Rose was feeling. She mewed as she rubbed along Rose's legs. Rose picked the cat up and walked her over to the steps to meet Mr. Todd. Pirelli gave him the money and turned to Toby as Mr. Todd cleared his things.

"Come, boy." He slapped him hard accross the face knocking him to the floor. "Come!" He shouted something Italian and kicked Toby inside. Rose could feel his pain.

"Maybe it's just me gentle heart," Mrs. Lovett whispered as she helped Mr. Todd on with his coat "but I do hate to see a boy treated like that." She heard something behind her and turned around to see a sobbing Rose. Her tears had already soaked the cat's back. "Oh dear. I think it's time to get Rosey home." She looked up, but Mr. Todd wasn't there.  
He had walked over to the Beadle.

"I Thank you, sir. You are a paragon of integrity." Todd spoke.

"Well, I try to do my best for my friends and neighbors." Beadle Bamford smiled. "Your establishment is on Fleet Street, you say?"

"Yes, sir." He shrugged off Nellie's impatient hand from his shoulder.

"Then, Mr. Todd, you shall surely see me there before the week is out."

"You'll be welcome, Beadle Bamford, and I can guarantee to give you without a penny's charge the closest shave you will ever know"  
The Beadle gave a toothy grin and tipped his hat to leave.

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Once they returned home Mrs. Lovett put Rose in her room to rest. Crying always tired her out. Then she helped Sweeney bring a chair upstairs that he could use for his customers. She sat down immediately.  
(I don't feel like typing this bit, you should know what happens.)

Rose was tired of resting. The only way she was going to regain her energy was to use it. She walked behind the counter of the shop to find something to eat, but she only found dusty, old pies. She didn't have much of an appetite anyway. The cat pranced in and hopped onto the table. Rose smiled. (Gasp Emotion!)

"No, bad cat"  
The creature didn't listen. The door opened and the cat jumped down. Mrs. Lovett entered followed by the blonde haired boy from the market.

"Close the door." She said to him. "Get you a nice lovely pie." She muttered. Rose stepped out of the way and Mrs. Lovett reached down to get a plate. She blew off the dust and dropped a stale pie onto it. "Sit down, make yourself comfy." She directed. Rose watched as he sit down hastily and took off his hat. He looked too eager, like he hadn't eaten in a week. He bit greedily into the pie and Rose's heart went out to him. He must have been really hungry to be able to eat such a pie without so much as a twitch of disgust. She couldn't imagine what it would be like not to eat. She was always given food and even in the hardest of times was always able to find something. She suddenly realized that Mrs. Lovett was talking.

"Liked to gorge himself to bloatation, he did." She was talking about her deceased husband. "He didn't have your nice head of hair, though." She turned from his portrait to look at Toby who looked up at her.

"To tell the truth," he reached up and pulled off his blonde hair to reveal short, dark brown hair "it gets aweful hot." He rubbed his head and resumed eating his pie. Mrs.  
Lovett wasn't the least bit surprised. In fact all she did was look up at the ceiling in response.

Rose left the shop. She was curious about what Mr. Todd was doing, though she didn't know why. When she reached the top of the stairs she peered in to see a mass of blue and red sprawled out on the floor. She looked up to see a startled barber. The next thing she knew she was being harshly pulled into the room, a razor held to her throat.

"What am I going to do with you, eh?" He hissed at the pale, expressionless face. "Well," he lowered his razor and took a step back, still keeping a careful eye on her "I suppose you're not going say anything." He didn't expect her to look at him, but he also didn't expect her to focus on anything. But she was. He frowned for a second, then followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at the body of former Davey Collins/Adolfo Pirelli. He looked back at her to see that she was walking slowly towards the bloody heap with a finger in her mouth. He watched curiously (I'm so sick of using that word, I wish I had a bigger vocab.) as she knelt beside him. She took her finger out of her mouth and took a closer look at the blood. She dragged her finger tips in the syrupy fluid and studied them for a moment. Then, she did something that Mr. Todd never would have imagined. She giggled. 


	5. stop and smell the Roses

Sorry it took me so long to write such a short chapter, but I've been busy... and uninspired. Please continue to review. It helps more than you know.

ANANANANAN

Anthony ran through the streets to find his new friend, Mr. Todd. He had just left Johanna, and he needed Mr. Todd's help in freeing her. He was so excited that he couldn't think, and he ran right into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He said while trying to help gather the objects that has spilled from the other person's bag.

"Oh, it's... Anthony?"

Anthony looked up to see a boy about his age with short firey red hair and dark eyes smiling brightly at him.

"Mark!" Anthony jumped up and the boys wrapped eachother in a brotherly bear hug. "Mark Ingestrie, I haven't seen you in ages!" (I have no idea what Mark Ingestrie looks like nor how to spell it, so I just made something up to fit the character. Just for clarifycation of a certain somebody I know, Mrs. L and Mark are the only redheads in the story.  
Rose's hair is dark auburn, not the usual red auburn people tend to think of.) Mark broke the hug. He and Anthony had grown up together, and somehow they lost track of each other after being sent on separate voyages.

"I know!" He held Anthony by the shoulders. "Now what sends you running wildly down the streets like a mad man?" He questioned, picking up his bag and pulling Anthony along by the elbow for a brief moment.

"Mark, I've just met the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on, the girl I'm going to marry. She's a sad girl and lonely too. Her guardian, somesort of judge, keeps her locked away, but I've just spoken with her and she said that tonight she'd come away with me. I was just on my way to visit a friend who's agreed to help me."

Mark had stopped walking and stared aghast (not sure if that's the right word).

"Well, I don't know what to say. After that story and seeing how excited you are about it you surely wouldn't be interested in hearing about what's happened to me these past few years." They picked up their slow pace.

"Sorry, Mark. I..."

"Oh, no need to apologize!" He smiled back at his friend. "The only way you can insult me now is to deny me as a friend to help you. I must meet this girl."

"You shall, Mark." Anthony smiled and they walked on.

"I believe you've failed to give me her name."

"Johanna." He said dreamily as the two disappeared into the crowd.

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Mrs. Lovett walked Rose into her pie shop. The judge was there, and she smiled. She would soon be one step closer to her dream of a new life with the man she had pined for for over fifteen years. She set Rose down at a booth. She was glad that she didn't have to worry about the girl telling anyone, but she was surprised and somewhat amused to learn that she thought the blood was pretty. She looked around for Toby and found him passed out in the hall to the parlor when she heard the door of the shop open.

"Mrs. Lovett?" The sailor boy she met earlier called, and she entered the kitchen to find another boy with him. "Mark, this is Mrs. Lovett, the owner of the shop. I told you about her. Mrs. Lovett, this is my good friend Mark Ingestrie."

Nellie could tell that he was itching to get upstairs. Mark removed his cap, and extended his hand to her.

"Pleasure, ma'am." He said kindly before gripping his hat. She noticed that he turned his gaze toward the expressionless girl who sat straight and stared blankly into space.  
Anthony spoke again.

"Mrs. Lovett, is Mr. Todd at home?"

"Yeah, but..." She said, but Anthony had already started running out the door. "I think he's with a customer! Wait!" She shouted after him, but he didn't seem to hear. She just hoped that Mr. Todd didn't slice the judge's throat as he walked in the door.

"Pardon me, ma'am." Mark whispered, and Mrs. Lovett turned around to look at him. He glanced at Mrs. Lovett before looking back at the girl and tipping his head curiously in her direction.

"That's Rose." She said plainly, looking at the girl before walking behind the counter. Rose continued to stare blankly ahead. "Don't mind her. She's got no brain in her skull."

Mark frowned at the woman, but then he understood that it wasn't meant as an insult. The girl turned her head slightly, and looked directly into his eyes. Anyone would have said that her face was completely devoid of any emotion. Just an empty shell, but Mark could have sworen that he saw something brewing behind those glass yellow eyes. He just couldn't put a finger on it. Just then, someone burst in the door behind him. He looked back to see a disappointed and slightly frightened Anthony.

"Mark, let's go." He said. Mrs. Lovett pushed past him and ran up the stairs. Mark turned back to Rose. She was still looking at him.

"Goodbye, Rose. It was nice to meet you." He said gentley. She showed no change in composure, but he couldn't help but smile. Anthony rolled his eyes.

"Come on!" He pulled his friend curtly by the arm out the door.

Anthony waited until they got to the street to start talking.

"I think I made a big mistake. The judge, Johanna's guardian, was with Mr. Todd, and I was so anxious to tell him what happened that I started talking before I even got in the door. Turpin heard me say that Johanna and I agreed on tonight." He waited for a response, but recieve none. "Hey, are you even listening to me?"

"Hm?" Mark replied absent mindedly. Anthony came to a dead halt.

"What's gotten into you?"

"I just met the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on."

"Who, Rose? You must be joking!"

"I don't joke about beautiful girls, you know that." He said with a grin, and walked ahead.

"You're out of your mind! You're out of your mind as she is, you must be!" Anthony was almost jogging to keep up with his fast paced friend.

"Why do you say that? Have you seen her?"

"Yes." Anthony was loosing his breath. Mark strolled through the crowd with ease, but Anthony kept getting bombarded with people.

"You don't think she's beautiful?"

"Well, yes, but..."

Mark stopped. Anthony nearly ran him over.

"So a girl has to know everything to be beautiful?"

"Well, no..." Anthony looked down.

"Am I still mad for thinking she's beautiful then?"

"No, I suppose you're not." He said, his breath finally even. Mark began to walk again. He waited a moment before speaking.

"I think I'm in love."

"You are mad. I've met her, remember? How could any man love a girl like her? She's stupid, she'd never be able to understand what love is."

"Anthony!" Mark stopped right in front of a booth, and slammed hes hand down as he yelled his name. "Anthony," he said, never taking his eyes off of the other boy. He held up the object that his hand landed on and shoved it into Anthony's chest. "Stop and smell the roses."

Anthony instinctively grabbed the bouquet of roses that pushed onto his chest, and watched in astonishment as his friend paid for them. 


	6. seeing through Rose colored spectacles

Dedicated to my faithful readers and reviewer. So far:

friska-freak Lily Yamamoto Shitty Chicken Gang Bang (and hopefully) RAK-MK-LJR

You all recieve a meat pie. YAYZ! : )

Rose stood over the unconcious boy. She felt a strong need to protect him, though she didn't understand what the feeling was. Mr. Todd and Mrs. Lovett sang and danced in the other room, and Rose noticed a strange look in her eyes. It was the same look that she had in her eyes at the market. They ended their song, and for the rest of the day Mr. Todd kept up in his room, occasionally coming down to retrieve something. Mrs. Lovett carried the boy to a spare bedroom (man she's strong!), and when he awoke Mrs. Lovett explained to him that he would live with them.

"What about Signor Pirelli?" He questioned rubbing his eyes. Mrs. Lovett suddenly seemed nervous.

"Well, why do you have to worry about him, now, eh?" She laughed nervously. Toby blinked at her tiredly. She spoke again, this time sounding more sure of herself.  
"He told us that he had to go back to Italy. Don't know why though. We didn't press. He was gonna send you back to the work house, but we convinced him that we needed you here."

"You mean..." he exclaimed excitedly. He knew this woman would be kind to him. He could sense it, and he saw in the way she was with the girl that she had a tender, motherly heart.

"Yeah, you get to stay here with me and Rosey." She said tenderly.

"Thank you, ma'am!" He shouted. She gave him a warm smile and a pat on the knee before she walked out leaving him with Rose. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me"  
she called as she walked out the door, "or I'll be helping Mr. Todd with something."

Toby looked at Rose.

"Hi." He said not knowing what else to do. The girl stuck her finger in her mouth. They sat in silence. Suddenly Rose dashed out of the room, and she came back with a yellow bundle in her arms.

"Cat!" She said excitedly and smiled. Toby smiled back genuinely and walked over to her.

"Neat!"

They sat together in the room playing with the cat. He wondered what she named it. Pets always had interesting names and he was eager to find out what she had named it,  
but he was disappointed to learn that the only name she gave it was 'Cat'.

Mrs. Lovett heard joyful giggling even in the kitchen, and she had to smile. She was glad to know that the children were getting along so well, and she dreamed about a proper family. They would be perfect with a father, a mother, a daughter and a son and a pet; Sweeney, Nellie, Rose, Toby and the cat. She was about to go join the children when she heard the shop door open. She expected to see Mr. Todd, but instead she saw the sturdy (had to clarify that) young man from earlier. He was carrying something behind his back.

"Mrs. Lovett, ma'am?" He said anxiously.

"Yes, sir. Mark, yes?"

"Yes, ma'am. It's nice to see you again." He smiled politely, and Mrs. Lovett just looked at him.

"Did you need something?" She asked slowly as she rubbed her floury hands together.

"Oh, yes, uh... I was wondering if Rose happened to be home?" He sounded even more anxious, but he kept a small smile. Mrs. Lovett's lips twitched in amusement.

"I'll be right back."

"Thank you, ma'am!" He called. As soon as Mrs. Lovett disappeared around the corner he let himself go. He let out the air that had been building up in his lungs. (He forgot to breath out.)

Nellie cautiously opened the door to Toby's room.

"Rosey, someone's here to see you." She said. Rose stood up nervously and stuck her finger in her mouth. Toby stood after her. "It's alright, Rosey. Come on." She held out her hand and Rose stepped forward. Toby started to follow. "Toby," she said putting a hand on Rose's back "you can come help me with something."

"Yes, ma'am."

Nellie pushed Rose along in front of her until they reached the kitchen.

"Here she is." She said cheerfully. "Come on, Toby." She grabbed the boy's hand and left the two alone... kind of.

"Ma'am, what are you doing?" Toby asked Mrs. Lovett when she turned around.

"Sh!" She covered his mouth. "You want them to hear us?" She let her hand down and peeked around the door frame. Toby's mouth hung open as he frowned at the strange woman. She knew that Rose would let the boy down, she would never be able to understand love, but she didn't want to upset the boy, for he was Anthony's friend. And Anthony was the ticket to Johanna. She kept an eye on Rose. To Nellie she was just a simple, helpless, stupid little girl who would never understand the dynamics of the human mind and the ways of man.

Rose looked blankly at the boy with her finger in her mouth. She stood away from him. She wasn't familiar with him and it frightened her to be alone with him without Mrs.  
Lovett.

"Hello, Rose." Mark said sweetly. "Do you remember me? I'm Mark." He waited for somesort of reaction. When he recieved none he cleared his throat and pulled out the bouqet of roses that he held behind his back. Mrs. Lovett gasped. "I brought you some roses. They're a lovely shade of red, see?" He held the floweres out. Rose cautiously reached out with her free hand to take them. Her dark curls looked stunning against the deep red petals making her yellow orbs even brighter againsts the pale skin that surounded her dark sunken eyes. Her eyebrows natural arches added to her cat like appearence. She played with the small white tufts that mingled with the roses. "That's Baby's Breath." He explained. She glanced up at him, her slender fingers still dancing gracefully in the fragile white flowers. "Baby's Breath always goes with roses."

Rose looked at the red flowers and remembered the pretty red syrupy substance that caressed her fingers only a few hours ago. She looked at her fingers the way she had before as she remembered this and grinned, though her eyes still held no emotion. Mark only noticed her grin and smiled.

"You like them?" It was more of a statement.

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The next day Mrs. Lovett and Toby spent all morning cleaning up the shop. That afternoon she sent him on an errand.

"Toby, I need you to go have posters made for tonight." She said as she handed a piece of paper to him. "Give them this to copy."

"Yes, ma'am." He held out his hand and Mrs. Lovett dropped the money into it. "Do you need anything else while I'm out?"

"No, Toby. Hurry back. Alright, love?"

"Yes, ma'am." He said as he rushed out the door.

Rose was utterly bored. She was tired of playing with the cat and visa versa. The only other thing she owned aside from her clothes was the plush doll Mrs. Lovett had given her and she couldn't do much with that. She wanted to do something with Toby, but he was gone, not to mention Mrs. Lovett kept him busy all day. She decided to try and find some-  
way to help in the shop. Mrs. Lovett kept distracting her into going back into her bedroom. It fooled her every time, but this time she was determined to find something to do. She wandered through the parlor and lingered in the doorway to the kitchen.

"M." She tried to get Mrs. Lovett's attention. "M." She made a bit louder this time, but Mrs. Lovett seemed not to notice. "M!" She fussed and stomped her foot furiously.  
Mrs. Lovett turned around to see Rose throwing a fit, pounding her arms down on nothing in particular.

"Rose, calm down." She stood up and wiped her hands off and strolled over to the girl. "What's the matter, love?" She was actually speaking to her like a real human being.  
Rose crossed her arms, and Mrs. Lovett put her shoulders and tried to turn her around. "Rose, where's your dolly?" She exclaimed like one would talk to a baby to get them excited (It's retarted). Rose caught on this time. How could she tell her what she wanted? She couldn't just pick up and start doing something, the place was already pretty clean. She merely shrugged off the woman's hands and plopped down on the floor.

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Toby knew he wasn't supposed to dawdle, but he kept getting distracted. He was about to pick up his pace when something colorful caught his eye. He looked over and saw a colorful poster. On it were all sorts of interesting animals and people flying from rope to rope. He saw it to be an advertisement for the circus that was coming to town. He bolted down the street. He wanted to ask Mrs. Lovett if they could all go. If he had to he figured he could get Rose excited about it so that she would have to say yes.

Toby walked into the shop to find Mrs. Lovett on the floor laughing about some sort of hand game she was playing with Rose.

"Ma'am?" As soon as he said this Mrs. Lovett immediately stopped laughing and jumped to see him standing there with an armful of posters.

"Oh, Toby!" She stood up and started for him as she tampered with her hair. "That was fa... what?"

Rose nearly knocked her down as she ran past her. Toby was too startled to react, and she grabbed the posters from him. Mrs. Lovett sighed.

"Toby, take her with you when you go put them up." She said exasperated. Toby looked fearfully at the girl.

"Yes, ma'am." He said. Mrs. Lovett walked behind the counter and started working on something. "And, ma'am?"

"Hm?" She didn't bother to look up.

"I was wondering, well, I saw this poster on my way back." He said. Mrs. Lovett seemed to notice his nervousness so she looked up at him sweetly. "I was wondering if we might go out and do something fun?"

Mrs. Lovett thought for a moment. She liked the idea of all four of them going out together like a family. She knew there was a reason behind his question.

"Do you have anything in mind, love?"

"Well..." he didn't want to sound too eager "On my way back I saw this poster. It was advertising a circus that's coming to town. I've never been to a circus myself, but I heard it's a lot of fun. It's supposed to open tomorrow." It took him a second to realize that he was holding his breath. Mrs. Lovett thought for a moment.

"We'll see about it. Not tomorrow though, but maybe the next day." She smiled and Toby let out a silent sigh of relief. "Go on, now and put those posters up before it's too late."

"Yes, ma'am." He grabbed Rose's hand and fled out of the shop, the cat trailing behind them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That evening Mrs. Lovett sent Toby just outide to attract customers. Once business had picked up Rose came out to see if she could find something to do. There were too many people. She tried to go up to Mr. Todd's shop, but Mrs. Lovett caught her everytime, just when she thought she wasn't looking. Mr. Todd paced at the top of the steps like a prowling lion. He watched Rose try to climb the stairs, but Mrs. Lovett stopped her again.

"I told you," she hissed "don't bother Mr. T, he doesn't want you up there bugging him!" A customer walked by and she smiled so he wouldn't feel uncomfortable or unwelcome. She watched him go up the steps, and she glared at Rose before turning back to her customers. Rose looked up to see Mr. Todd looking back at her. She started up the stairs, and as soon as she did Mr. Todd went inside to 'serve' his customer. She just escaped Mrs. Lovett's eye.

Rose was facinated by the blood that spewed out of the man's neck, and she let out a squeal of delight. Mr. Todd was shocked at first. He was surprised at the sudden outburst from the girl and he was surprised to see that she was showing emotion. He had to smile though. Sweeney took a few more customers. He was about to slit the throat of one man when suddenly Rose started to yell at him. He was taken slightly aback.

"What's wrong with her?" The man sounded slightly appalled.

"Rose! What's the matter with you?" He stared at her with wide eyes. She walked to the door and opened it. A woman shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"John! Are you alright up there? What's going on?" They heard her shout. The man assured his wife that everything was fine. Sweeney smiled at Rose. He was starting to like this girl.

Mr. Todd sent Rose downstairs after about and hour or so. He closed up shop, for the pie shop would be closing soon. Rose made her way downstairs. Mrs. Lovett saw her descending, and frowned placing her hands on her hips. She opened her mouth to scold her, but decided against it. Instead she shook her head and walked back inside.

Rose went to the kitchen and found a rather large family sitting at one of the boothes. There were at least five children: three boys and two girls. They were all acting wildly,  
standing on chairs, throwing food, yelling at each other. The woman was scolding one of her boys. There was a little girl with blonde curls sitting next to her, trying to get her attention.

"Mum! Mum!" She tried and failed. Rose thought about Toby. That's what he always called Mrs. Lovett, wasn't it? The girl tried again. "Mummy!"

"What is it?" The woman finally gave her attention to the girl.

"Rose!" Mrs. Lovett called. "Come take your cat away, she's bugging some of the guests."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose sat on her bed staring at the door. Mrs. Lovett had convinced Toby to go to bed. He hated to leave her when there was still cleaning to be done, but she assured him that she was perfectly capable of wiping down the tables and putting up the chairs by herself. Now Rose was tired, but Mrs. Lovett hadn't come to help her off with her dress nor did she say goodnight. She tiredly made her way through the dark hallway and through the parlor to the kitchen. She stood and waited to see if Mrs. Lovett would notice her. She was ducked behind the counter, obviously putting something away.

"Mummy?" Rose asked shyly. Mrs. Lovett froze for a moment. She felt dizzy. Then, she slowly straightened upward and turned her gaping face toward the girl.

"What did you call me?" Her words came out in a whisper. Rose hung her head in shame. "No, no, darling." She soothed. "You didn't do anything wrong." She flitted over to the girl and lifted her chin. "What's my name, darling?" Her voice was high pitched and soft. Rose studied her eyes. "Who am I?"

"M-mummy." Rose whispered. Mrs. Lovett was overcome with joy.

"That's right, darling." She stepped back. "Ha!" She started twirling about. "She called me 'mummy'!"

Rose looked upon her warmly as a mother would look upon her child. She hummed and danced around merrily wiping the tables clean.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

THIS PART SHOULD BE ITALICIZED

Mrs. Lovett stroked a hand down her bloated tummy.

--flash--

"Come on, Mrs. Lovett!" The Dr. yelled. "Push!"

--flash--

Mrs. Lovett sat on the sofa and smiled at her husband. He was kelt down on the floor talking to her stomach.

--flash--

"Come on, darling. Keep going." Mr. Lovett soothed, and wiped the sweat from his wife's brow.

"Just one more push, Mrs. Lovett." The Dr. instructed.

--flash--

Mr. Lovett held his wife tightly to him as she sobbed. He tried to comfort her, but he couldn't help but weep silently with her.

ITALICS OVER

Mrs. Lovett awoke with a start. She could only vaguely remember the dream as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

I hope that chapter wasn't too long. Please review. Don't hate me. Sweenett will be coming soon along with explainations of everything you're wondering about. 


	7. Rose is a rose is a Rose

Hey again, guys. I promised Lily Yamamoto a fresh pie, but don't worry I didn't forget my other peeps. You all get nice clean shaves. (Don't worry, Mr. Todd promised not to kill any of you 'cuz he knows you're too important). All new reviewers get pies. Over 300 hits! WOOT!

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Mrs. Lovett stood from her bed and tiptoed to Rose's bedroom. She slowly opened the door, being careful not to let it squeak. She looked so sweet sleeping soundly in the candle light. Nellie sat on the bed next to her and dandled (?) a few strands of dark auburn curls. She did look quite a bit like her. Her hair was a darker auburn, but auburn none the less. And she had amber eyes just like Albert. The only thing that confused Nellie was the girl was thinner than either of them, but she figured it was probably from starvation. This had to be her daughter... didn't she?

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"Mark!" Anthony called, running to the bench his friend promised to meet him.

"Anthony, you look like you haven't slept all night. What's your rush?"

"Mark," Anthony spoke between gasps "Johanna... they've taken her... they've sent her somewhere, but... they wouldn't tell me."

"Oh, Anthony." Mark was disturbed. "What exactly happened?"

"Well, apparently the judge found her getting ready to leave. I suppose he figured the best way to keep us appart was to send her away."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Mark would do almost anything to help his friend be with the woman he loved.

"Do you think you could look around the east side of London while I check the west?"

"Anything, Anthony."

"Make sure you don't miss anything. Look everywhere."

"I promise to look under every rock." Mark held his left hand in the air and laid his right hand accross his heart.

"Mark!"

"What? She's small." He said in mock confusion.

"Goodbye, Mark." Anthony said as he got up and left to look for Johanna. Mark was glad to take the east side of London. Maybe he would see Rose again.

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It was late morning, about eleven o' clock and there were only a few customers so Rose felt free to wander about. She dashed bac and forth from Todd's parlor to Lovett's shop. Even though there weren't very many customers it was enough to drive Mrs. Lovett to the boobyhatch. Normally she could handle Rose's high activity level, but today for some reason she was acting up more than usual. Finally she managed to get Rose to stay inside, but not five minutes had gone by when she heard a loud thud coming from the other room.

Mark stepped into the pie shop, but when he looked around he found no Mrs. Lovett.

"Can I help you, sir?"

Mark looked down to see a young boy not more than twelve years of age.

"Yes, I was just looking for Mrs. Lovett, sir." He said politely. Toby smiled at being called sir. "Do you know where she might be?" He asked taking off his cap. Suddenly,  
they heard a shout from the other room.

"Rose!?" They heard the voice call in fear/worry, and then a crash came from the direction of the voice.

"I think she's in the living room." Said the boy without averting his eyes from the sailor. "Come on, I'll show you in."

They entered the room to find the baker struggling with Rose, who held a rose in one hand. The others scattered on the ground amongst the shattered glass.

"Ma'am?" Toby asked timidly. Mrs. Lovett jumped.

"Oh! Mark."

"Hello again, ma'am. I was wondering if I might have a moment?" He scrunched his hat nervously. (He has the cutest habits!)

"Of course." She looked at Toby, who was scanning the young man suspiciously. "Toby." She said and he jumped. "Thank you, Toby. You can go back to the customers now, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am." He left. Mrs. Lovett stood up straight now that Rose had stopped fussing. Rose made sure to stay close to Mrs. Lovett's side.

"Is Rose usually this, uh..." he thought for the right word as he bent down to pick up on of the roses. "Active?" He concluded.

"She's always very energetic, but I don't know why she's been acting up like this today." She looked at Rose.

"Well, I could take her off your hands for a while if you like. We can find something to do at the park." He suggested hopefully. Mrs. Lovett looked at him and thought carefully. "I'm very trustworthy, I promise. I used to look after my own little sisters."

Mrs. Lovett looked out the window.

"Well..." She thought out loud. She saw the pleading look in the sailors eyes and she couldn't help but smile. "Alright. If you're sure it wouldn't be too much trouble." She really wanted to take a break from Rose, but she was still a little sceptic.

"No trouble at all! I was actually hoping to spend some time with her anyway." He said with relief, but as soon as he did he felt a little embarassed. Mrs. Lovett frowned for a moment, but she decided to let it go. Mark looked at Rose. "Hello, Rose. Do you remember me?" He crooned. Rose shrunk back a little, but she responded.

"M-Mark."

Mark smiled and Mrs. Lovett nudged her.

"Go on, Rosey. Ain't nothing to be afraid of."

Mr. Todd watched the body slide down the chute to the bake house below, and dropped the hat down after him. Wiping his razor he absentmindedly walked over to the window. He looked up to see Rose skipping off with some boy. He frowned as he leaned against the sill. He didn't know why, but suddenly he was overcome with a fatherly emotion.  
Protectiveness it must have been. Perhaps he was channeling his feelings for Johanna.

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When Mark said that he used to look after his little sisters he didn't realize how much alike this would be. Rose was delighted with the things they found in the market. It made him laugh to see her play with the merchandise and annoy the salespersons. She didn't even realize that her cat was not with her. Being out with out it made her look so much older. She actually looked like a mature fifteen year old girl: tall and oh so beautiful! When they finally reached the park Mark sat her down on a bench.

"Did you have fun so far today, Rose?" He asked retorically. She held up the flower that she had been carying around with her.

"Wose." She beamed and he half forced a grin.

"That's right. It's a lovely rose, lovely like you." He mused. She looked at her rose, too na?e to realize what he was doing. "You're a very lovely Rose." (I know that sounds tarted, but hey) He gazed longingly at her full glossy lips. They were so lustrous and red againsted her pale skin and they enticed him. He wondered what they would taste like. He had to find out if they were as soft as they looked. He closed his eyes as he slowly started to lean closer to her.

Rose hadn't noticed him move as she played with the flower and she turned once again to show it to him. The rose fell on his lips. Startled, he opened his eyes and jerked back a little. Rose giggled and he smiled. He couldn't wait any longer and he lunged torwards her before she could do anything. Her lips were smooth and velvety like the petals of a rose and they tasted of bramble. He couldn't believe it! Everything about her was a rose: her looks, her feel, her taste. She even smelled like a rose! He broke away from her. 'Did I frighten her?' he wondered. He looked into her eyes and to his surprise she was almost unphased. She just looked up at him as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. He was a little embarassed and surprised at his sudden lack of self control. She grinned at him sweetly (you know that look someone gives you when you know you've just done something stupid and they just grin at you like they wanna pretend they don't know? I don't know how else to explain it.). He smiled back a smile that was half relief and half satisfaction. She was a rose by definition and nothing less. 


	8. every Rose has its thorn

Toby sat anxiously in front of Mrs. Lovett's bedroom door. He had been the first one up that morning, but since the shop would be closed that day Mrs. Lovett slept in. Toby was already dressed. He couldn't wait to go to the circus. It would be his first chance to do something fun. He heard some rustling behind the door, and a few minutes later the door opened.

"Oh! Toby!" She nearly tripped over him. "What are you doing up so early?" She asked, and he followed her to the kitchen.

"I'm not up early, you're up late." As soon as he said that she spun around, her eyes popping out of their dark sockets.

"What?" She shouted. She grabbed his shoulders. "Toby! Why didn't you wake me?"

"You said we'd go to the circus today." He said calmly yet fearfully. She jerked her hands away.

"Oh!" She replied loudly as she remembered. "Right. Well, let's go wake Rosey then."

Mrs. Lovett helped the girl get ready for the day, and after making breakfast for the children she brought a tray up to Mr. Todd who was already, or was it still, dressed and staring out the window.

"Mr. T?" She said as she poked her head inside the door. When she recieved no response she let herself in. "I brought you some breakfast." She said as she set the tray down. "Mr. T... Are you going to eat something?" She asked a little annoyed. She recieved a grunt in response. "Mr. Todd, don't you think you ought to eat something? We're going out soon."

He turned around.

"We?" He gave a quizzical look.

"Yeah, we. You, me, Rosey and Toby." She said as she stepped closer to him. "The circus, remember?"

He assumed his former possition at the window.

"Go without me." He said. "I must find a way to the judge."

Mrs. Lovett fought the urge to slap him.

"You're never gonna get anywhere brooding up here in this stuffy old room all day." She sounded like a nagging wife. She put her hands on his shoulders and pulled him with her over to the tray of food, and pushed him down onto the chair. "Eat some breakfast and come out with us." She commanded. He lifted his head to look at her. "It'll be fun!" She tried to sound cheery. "And who knows? Maybe you'll even see the judge." She didn't want to have to say it, but she did. Mr. Todd watched her leave, and he turned back to the tray.  
Lucy never would have spoken to him that way. She was always so shy, so helpless. But this Nellie... she was strong. She knew how to take care of herself, and she was so insistent in caring for others. A small grin pulled at the corner of his lips.

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Mrs. Lovett couldn't figure out why Rose was so skittish. She and Toby were having a wonderful time, but Rose and Sweeney were a different story. Mr. Todd seemed distant all morning. That was typical, but why was Rose having such a miserable time? She seemed so vulnerable. When they were walking she kept trying to pull away from them.  
When they were in the tents watching the shows she burried herself next to Mrs. Lovett and sucked her finger.

They started walking again and Rose seemed to have settled down a bit.

"Look, ma'am!" Toby pointed in the direction of a large horde of people. "I've never seen anyone so tall in my whole life!" They walked over to the crowd that was gathered together to watch the tallest man in the world. He was seven feet tall. They all laughed as they watched him interact and carry small children on his shoulders and tell tales about other giants. He looked around the crowd as they laughed. His eyes fell upon Rose and he froze. His smile faded for a moment. Rose could feel her eyes whelling with tears. He turned back to the rest of his audience. Mr. Todd, who was standing at Mrs. Lovett's side bent his head back behind Nellie and frowned.

"Uh... Mrs. Lovett?" His voice was full of curious concern.

"Hm?" She looked at him first and saw that he was looking at Rose. She hadn't heard her sobs above the laughter and shouting. "Rose! What's wrong with you?" She sounded almost terrified. Rose's cries transcended to horrifying screams of anguish. The crowd was appaulled.

"Rose, it's alright." Mr. Todd soothed in a fatherly tone. He and Mrs. Lovett tried to calm her.

"Woman!" Someone shouted from within the mob. "Controll your child!" He finished. They tried to ignore the crowds shoutes of agreement that followed. Rose fell to the ground and Mr. Todd tried to hold her to stop her wild thrashing. Toby thought he noticed tears in the giant's eyes. He looked so sympathetic, and was it... appreciation that he saw?

"Rose, you're alright." Mrs. Lovett petted her forhead as she tried calmly to hush the girl. Mr. Todd looked around for an exist. He saw a banner above an open gate which led the way out. He looked back down at Rose to try to pick her up. In all of her struggling her dress got kicked up to her knees.

"Mrs. Lovett?" He yelled. She looked down to see that Rose's legs were bare.

"Oops." She tried quickly to throw her dress back over her legs, but something caught Sweeney's eye. He grabbed her wrist and frowned at what he saw.

"Didn't I just see...?" He thought aloud, and he looked back at the banner. Mrs. Lovett opened her mouth to explain, but Sweeney cut her off before she even started.  
"Mrs. Lovett, look up there." He pointed at the banner, and what she saw horrified her.

"Oh, no!" She gasped. She let go of Rose and Mr. Todd took her up in his arms. Mrs. Lovett couldn't take her eyes off the sign. "What have I done?" She whispered.  
Toby stood by the barber's side.

"Mrs. Lovett!" Todd said to snap her out of her thoughts. "We need to leave now."

With that they rushed out of "George Manfield's 'Circus of England'".

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Toby sat in a seat next to Rose inside the pie shop. He hadn't touched his plate. He just sat and stared at it, and by now it was too cold to eat. Rose had frightened him at the circus. Now all he could do was just sit and listen to the torpid chopping sound of Mrs. Lovett's knife.

Mrs. Lovett stood behind the counter watching Rose silently play with her crackers. Mr. Todd stood at the window looking out into the streets. An hour had gone by before Mrs. Lovett finally broke the silence and when she did no one was startled.

"What did they make you do?" She asked quietly. Rose froze. No one moved, but when no response came Mr. Todd turned his head in her direction. For the first time her pale skin flooded with colour.

"Rose?" Mrs. Lovett slowly moved from behind the counter to Rose's side.

"Toby," Sweeney spoke and the boy looked up at him "go to your room."

Toby stood cautiously from the booth and rushed out of the shop to his room. Todd walked over to the booth, and Mrs. Lovett knelt down on the floor.

"Rose." Mrs. Lovett's voice was barely above a whisper. "Talk to me."

They were both looking at her and it made her nervous. She covered her face with her hands. Mrs. Lovett stood up.

"Come on, Rosey, darling." She whispered as she sat next to Rose and pulled her close. Rose kept her hands over her face as she burried her head in Mrs. Lovett's bosom.  
"Can't you tell me anything? Hm? Please?"

They waited.

"Rose." Mr. Todd's soft, deep voice seemed to assure her somewhat and she warily peeked out from behind her hands. She turned her head so no one could see her face,  
and wrapped one arm around Mrs. Lovett's waist.

"Mummy!" She sniveled.

"I'm right here." Came the immediate response from Mrs. Lovett. "Tell us what they did to you, precious." She soothed. Rose turned her head again so Mr. Todd could see her face, but she did not look at him.

"I was" she uttered "unh... cat."

The grown-ups frowned at each other.

"Cat?" Mr. Todd asked puzzled. "What do you mean Rose?"

"Unh, ey... put me in... in...unh, box, and... I..."

Sweeney looked at Mrs. Lovett with wide eyes.

"Cat." He said as realization hit. "Rose, they kept you in a box and you had to try to escape?" His voice became louder. Rose hid her face in Mrs. Lovett's chest. Todd jumped from the table and stalked over to the window. "I've seen something like this before." He growled as he paced back and forth looking out the window. "They take innocent people and use them for their own sick entertainment. In her case they probably passed her as somesort of 'Human Feline'. Did you see the 'Freak Shows' at the circus today?"

"I had no idea about the sadism that took place there!" She said aghast. She looked down at Rose and hugged her more tightly. "How could they do such a thing to this poor baby?"

"They don't care as long as they can make money."

"That's lunacy!" She cried. Mr. Todd stopped pacing and stood deadly still in front of the window. Rose whimpered as she started to babble something. "Rose, it's alright"  
Mrs. Lovett dandled Rose and tried to hush her with her words. Mr. Todd stormed out of the pie shop slamming the door behind him and marched upstairs to his apartment.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mark had searched up and down his half of the city all day finding no trace of Johanna anywhere. He had promised his friend that he would help him and he always made it a point to stay true to his word, but he couldn't take his mind off of Rose. He had to see her again. He made his way to the pie shop, and he opened the door to find her snuggled up with Mrs. Lovett at one of the boothes.

"Mrs. Lovett, I..." He stopped when he saw that Rose's face was stained with tears and her eyes were redder than usual. "Oh, Rose." He said, taking off his cap and sliding into the seat accross from them. "What happened?" He asked Mrs. Lovett.

"She's... she's just had a very trying day." She didn't want him to know the truth about what she had to live through. She could tell he wanted to know more. And he did want to know more, but he didn't press. He didn't want to do anything to make Mrs. Lovett hate him.

"Oh... ahem... well, I was just wondering if I might have a few moments alone with her?"

Mrs. Lovett looked at Rose and stood up.

"Well, it's alright with me, but I don't know how Rose is going to be about it. Rose? Do you want to see Mark for a few minutes?" She cooed. Rose just looked at her blankly. "Go on, just for a minute." Mrs. Lovett pulled her up by the hand. Mark opened the door for her and they stepped out into the court.

"Rose, I just had to see you again."

Rose didn't look at him.

"I wanted to tell you that I had a wonderful time yesterday and..." He said, scrunching his cap. She still didn't look at him She just kept frowning with her eyes to the ground.  
"I don't know if you can understand this, but... I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

Still no reaction.

"So... What happened today? Mrs. Lovett said you didn't have a very good day." He was beginning to get nervous. She still hadn't looked at him or acknowledged him at all. "Rose?" He moved to lift her chin, but realized right away that it was a bad move. She screamed as she lurched out and hit him hard on the arm. "Ow!" He yelped and jumped back in pain. "Rose!" He called after the girl running to the pie shop, but she didn't stop. He saw Mrs. Lovett look at him through the window just before dashing off after the girl. "Well," he said to himself "I guess every rose has its thorn." He picked up his bags and left. 


	9. a Rose by any other name

**PLEASE REREAD!! I CHANGED STUFF!! The new stuff is underlined.**

Anyway, guess what! I made a **THEME SONG FOR ROSE!** Just go to the link at the bottom of my profile.

ANANANANANANANANANANANANAN

Mrs. Lovett brought a breakfast tray up to Mr. Todd. When she opened the door she found him slumped back in his chair with his hand over his eyes.

"Mr.T?" She wondered if he was asleep. She could see his eyes snap open behind his fingers. "I brought you some breakfast." She set the tray down. There was a silence that seemed to last forever. She could tell he had been concerned for Rose. She cleared her throat and spoke again. "Rose is fine. Nothing to worry about."

"I should kill them." He said right away as if she hadn't spoken at all.

"Well," She didn't know what else to say. She turned to leave and Mr. Todd stood.

"Why did she call you mummy?" He asked in a quiet yet demanding voice. Mrs. Lovett froze. "Mrs. Lovett."

She turned around slowly.

"Is she your daughter?"

"I-I don't know." She said in an equally quiet voice. Her eyes were wide.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Well, I don't… remember anything. I…" She stuttered.

"I don't understand."

"Well, I thought I had a child. I've been having dreams, and there's evidence that the dreams are true, but… I can't remember."

Mr. Todd looked down thoughtfully.

"Who would have dilivered the child?" He asked.

"Dr. Whitcomb." She replied. He nodded, and he turned over to the window.

"Today," he said "we're going to see him, and find out if she is your child."

Mrs. Lovett was speechless.

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After breakfast Mrs. Lovett got herself and the children ready to go out. Toby wondered aloud what they were doing, but Mrs. Lovett was very vague.

When they arrived at the Dr.'s Mr. Todd told Toby to wait outside.

"Mrs. Lovett," the Dr. said leading her to a chair "what is it that you wanted to speak with me about?" He sat down in his chair as the others did.

Nellie looked to Sweeney for assurance, and took a deep breath. She didn't know how to begin, so she jumped in awkwardly.

"Well, you keep records for each patient, yes?" She clutched the arms of the chair to keep herself from shaking.

"Yes" He answered as he stood from the chair and walked over to a large box and started rummaging through it. "Is there something wrong that you think has to do with your medical history?" He pulled out a small stack of papers and sat back down.

"Not exactly." She said. She looked at Sweeney. He was watching the Dr. and something in his concerned face reassured her. "But there is something that I need to know from those papers."

Dr. Whitcomb's eyebrows scrunched together for a moment and she could tell he was confused.

"About fifteen years ago… I need to know what happened."

He flipped through the papers.

"Well, I'm sorry, Mrs. Lovett," he said still looking through the records, "there doesn't seem to be much in here."

For a brief second Mrs. Lovett felt an incredible pang of sadness shoot through her body. Then he spoke again.

"Except…"

Mrs. Lovett's head shot up and her eyes widened. She just barely had enough breath to say "Except?"

Dr. Whitcomb raised his eyes and took a deep breath before lifting his head to give her his full attention.

"Well…" he exhaled loudly through his nostrils. "Mrs. Lovett, I don't think I need to remind you."

Mrs. Lovett's entire body tensed as she sat forward, still gripping the arms tightly.

"Maybe you do." There was a long pause. "Dr…. I had a baby… didn't I?" She whispered in fear that she might be wrong. Dr. Whitcomb gave her a curious look.

"Mrs. Lovett, don't you remember?"

"I'd forgotten until just recently." Her breathes were deep, but quiet. "What happened? What happened to my child?"

Dr. Whitcomb felt his heart go out to the poor woman. He spoke very cautiously, yet firmly.

"You had a baby girl, Mrs. Lovett. She looked just like you. She had hair, only a little hair, but you could tell already that she had your same auburn curls."

"Her eyes?" She was still whispering, but her hope continued to grow with every second.

"Her eyes were blue as most newborns' usually are."

"What happened to her? Where is my child?"

"Mrs. Lovett, you don't have a child." He said matter of factly, too matter of factly. Her heart almost exploded out of her chest. There was a long silence before she could speak again, but she couldn't tell. She had lost all sense of time.

"What?" She tried to scream, but it only came out in a harsh whisper. The Dr. leaned forward, resting his forearms on his desk.

"Mrs. Lovett, she didn't make it. The brain damage was too much. It was impossible to save her. She didn't develop correctly. She was only a few hours old before she passed away."

Mrs. Lovett's body was frozen in shock. It was Sweeney's turn to speak.

"Dr. are you absolutely certain?"

"I'm afraid so."

"I don't believe it!" Mrs. Lovett suddenly spat. The men jumped. "I don't believe it, it's not true." She tried to convince herself, but tears still formed in her eyes.

"Mrs. Lovett…" the Dr. tried, but Sweeney cut him off.

"Well Dr. if her baby is dead then who is this?" Sweeney motioned to Rose who was sitting expressionless in the chair next to his. He was now standing with the Dr. near his desk. Dr. Whitcomb looked closely at the girl who sat staring at the floor.

"Amanda?"

Rose's head slowly lifted for her gaze to meet the Dr.'s. Sweeney's eyes widened in wonderment at the girl.

"Mr. Todd," Dr. Whitcomb said "that is the daughter of Carol and Elizabeth Downing of Face street."

"No!" Mrs. Lovett sobbed into her hands. "She can't! It's impossible!"

Sweeney looked furiously at Dr. Whitcomb.  
"How can it be?" He spoke calmly. "This girl looks so much like Mrs. Lovett."

"She has her father's eyes!" Mrs. Lovett glared up at the Dr. "She has Albert's eyes!" She buried her face back into her hands. "He promised! He promised me that's what she would look like!"

"True, Mrs. Lovett," he spoke loudly to be heard over the woman's sobs, "She does look very much like you, but not exactly. Her father, Mr. Downing, had auburn hair. Her mother had curls and amber eyes, and they were both much thinner and shorter than either of you!" Dr. Whitcomb was becoming impatient. "There are distinct differences between you and this girl, Mrs. Lovett, that for some reason you have failed to take note of!"

Mrs. Lovett cried even harder at the Dr.'s harsh, but true words.

"No, no!" She wept into her fists.

"Her parents died when she was only a year." The Dr. explained. "She was left in the care of her father's sister and brother-in-law. They had their own children and they despised her. So when she turned three they enlisted her into Manfield's circus."

Rose knew something was wrong and she walked over to the sobbing woman wanting to be close to her.

"Mummy."

"NO!" Mrs. Lovett screeched, throwing her harshly to the floor and jumping up from her chair. "Get away from me, you're _not_ my daughter!" She ran from the room.

"Mrs. Lovett!" Sweeney shouted after her. Toby dashed into the room.

"Mr. T, what happened?" The boy shouted.

Sweeney turned around to see Rose still sitting on the floor. He swooped down to pick her up. At that moment Rose realized what her 'mummy' had just done, and she started to cry.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sweeney Todd gently set the whimpering Rose down on her bed. Toby stood in the doorway.

"Mr. T?" He asked quietly.

"Go play, Toby." He said quietly, not bothering to look up as he was wiping the tears from the girl's cheeks.

Toby slowly walked away to go find something to do. He heard Mrs. Lovett's soft cries as he walked past her bedroom. He wanted so desperately to be the one to comfort her, but he knew there was little he could do. Mr. Todd would probably yell at him any way.

Mr. Todd slammed open the door to his landlady's bedroom. He didn't care what she thought. He was furious with her for leaving Rose like that.

"What is wrong with you, woman?" He shouted before he reached the door. "How could you…" He froze at the sight of the woman sprawled out in a whimpering heap on her bed. He knew she was upset, but suddenly something hit him. He walked over to her bedside and sat down.

"Mrs. Lovett." He said gently.

"Mr. Todd," she cried into her pillow, "I'm sorry."

The barber awkwardly placed a hand on the woman's back in attempt to comfort her.

"He promised me. It took so long. The Dr. said that I would never be able to have a child. But Albert refused to give up. For years we tried, finally one day I found that our dream was going to come true. He was so happy. I felt so bad for him for years. He wanted a child even more than I did. He wanted a girl. He always fancied girls over boys. He was always faithful to me. I thought for sure that he would leave me for some other woman when he found out that I might never have babies. He said that it had to be _my_ child. He never wanted anyone's baby, but mine. He said once that he would give up his life to have a child. It was so important for me to have his child that it didn't even matter if he never got to see it as long as I was there to take care of it. He wanted it for me. I don't think anyone could ever really understand how 

important it was to him, how strong his feelings about it were. He couldn't do enough for me when I was pregnant." Fresh tears formed in her eyes. "After her death he died of a broken heart. He wanted it for me."

"Mrs. Lovett," Sweeney spoke hoarsely, "Rose needs you. She may not be Albert's child, but… maybe… as a favor to him…"

"Just leave me, please." She whispered, choking back sobs.

Sweeney paused for a moment before rising. He walked slowly, lost in his own thoughts. He felt his heart reach out to her. He couldn't stand to see her like that. He wished he could take all of her pain away. He wanted to hold her and tell her that everything was alright. He just wanted to tell her something that would help alleviate her pain, but he couldn't think of the words to say. But why was he feeling this way? He paced about by his window.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mrs. Lovett didn't know how long she had lain there, but she knew that lunch time was almost near. Or maybe it had already passed. She couldn't tell. She wasn't very hungry anyway. She got up from her bed slowly, careful not to let herself get dizzy, and she wandered through the hall until she reached Rose's room. She gently pushed the door open to find Rose sleeping in her close. She stepped to her side and sat down next to her in the rocking chair that she had pulled close to the bed a few weeks earlier. Her dark auburn curls looked darker and more brilliant against her glossy green dress. She stroked the tight curls off of her soft pale skin. She was so innocent. Just the way Albert would have wanted.

"Rose." She whispered. She knew what Albert would want. "I don't care what they say. You just ignore them, alright? You'll always be my baby."

-

Don't forget the **THEME SONG** I made for **ROSE**. The link is at the bottom of my page.


	10. moonlit rose

Please rate my **THEME SONG**. I have made videos before, but no one rates them. PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU! Anything! Just go to the link at the bottom of my profile and click on it and watch it and click on a star, please! It's really not that hard. I do it all the time. People review my stories on fanfiction which is great, I thank you all, but please do me this one favor!? P.S. I hate begging.

**THEME SONG**

ANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANAN

Rose hadn't slept very long that afternoon, but when she returned to bed that evening she only slept for a few hours. She awoke to find darkness. The only light came from the single, low burning candle on the nightstand next to her bed. She was facing the wall, and she rolled over to see that the chair next to the bed was vacant. Why wasn't Mrs. Lovett there? Mrs. Lovett was always there lulling her back to sleep when she awoke during the night. But something was different this time. She was calm unlike the other times that she woke up.

Rose stood and walked to the door. She walked down the dark hallway as if walking through a dream. She couldn't see anything, yet she seemed to know exactly where she was going. And despite the fact that she couldn't see everything seemed to move farther away. She found Mrs. Lovett's door and opened it carefully. Mrs. Lovett was sleeping peacefully on her big soft mattress. Rose had never seen her sleep before. She looked so beautiful and soft. Like a woman. She had noticed that Mrs. Lovett wasn't like other women, frail and vulnerable, but now… Rose admired her. She wanted to be just like her, but not yet. She slid under the covers next to her 'mummy'. She wasn't exactly sure what it meant, but she liked it. Mrs. Lovett seemed to like it too. She found a certain comfort in calling her that. She settled herself down snuggling close. Mrs. Lovett unconsciously wrapped an arm around Rose's shoulder. It didn't take long before she had fallen asleep again.

(I don't think that had anything to do with the big picture, but the idea popped into my head all sudden like and I thought it was cute, so I had to put it in.)

;- -;

Mr. Todd had tried to convince Mrs. Lovett that she should take another day off, but she insisted that she was perfectly alright to work that day.

Sometime that evening Sweeney closed his shop for a while. Mrs. Lovett wanted him to stay partly to keep an eye on Rose and partly to… well, you know.

"Rose will stay in my shop with the cat." He said with his back to her. With that he disappeared into the dark streets of London. Mrs. Lovett sighed.

"Such a cold, distant man that one is. I should kick his arse." She mumbled to herself as she turned back to the shop.

;- -;

Mrs. Lovett finished cleaning up the shop after the children went to bed. After her work was finished she realized that she was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open. She lingered at the bottom of the stairs for a few moments looking up at the barber's shop.

_I wonder if I should go up and say goodnight?_ She thought to herself. _Just this once won't hurt, will it?_ She thought as she made her way up the steps. When she reached the top she slowly pushed open the door. Mr. Todd was staring out of the large window as usual, one hand behind his back and the other resting above his head on the frame. The moon was his only source of light.

"Mr. Todd?"

His hand dropped immediately and he spun on his heals to face her. The moonlight reflected on his ghostly white skin tinting it blue. He looked so beautiful.

"I just wanted to say goodnight."

He grunted in response and resumed pacing back and forth, still watching for something in the empty streets. Something about the dark changed him somehow. He looked more… real. He looked stronger, more aware or alert, like a man with a purpose and a family. He looked like Benjamin. His frown, his eyes still looked the same, but something about them was different. Sweeney always looked so cold, so distant, so vulnerable and weak. But this man, Mrs. Lovett could see, was still Benjamin Barker. The man she had fallen in love with. His name was Sweeney Todd. He was the Demon Barber of Fleet street. Sweeney Todd was not the man she had fallen in love with. But perhaps there was still hope. Benjamin Barker would always be with him, and maybe if Ben couldn't love her, Sweeney could. Neither Sweeney nor Ben alone could love her, would love her, but maybe there was still hope. Sweeney had no one, he would always be alone, but maybe Benjamin's warm heart would let her in.

Mrs. Lovett left him to his thoughts, drowning in her own. She opened the door to her own room. She took off her dress and threw on her night gown. She buttoned it up as she stepped out of her closet. When she looked up the room was dark. The moon hid behind a cloud for a few moments. She waited for the cloud to pass before walking anymore. Slowly, the blue light poured in. It started under the window and made its way to the bed. Finally it shed its soft light on the mattress. Mrs. Lovett cocked her head. Something was on the foot of the bed. She stepped closer to find a red rose lain out perfectly on her blanket. Its soft petals a dark shade of deep carmine in the blue light.

"Sweeney."

ANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANAN

Sorry for the shortness.


	11. bed of Roses

I forgot that I wanted to explain how Rose ended up in the circus. So I edited the chapter "a Rose by any other name".

Thanks for rating my video, Lily and Scarlett!

By the way, **SCARLETT MASQUERADE**, this is where it gets REALLY Mosey.

Sorry for the long wait.

-;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;-

One Sunday morning Mrs. Lovett decided that it would be fun to go on a picnic. She and Toby prepared a basket and that afternoon they got Mr. Todd down and they headed for the park. Rose seemed as distant and reluctant to go as Mr. Todd. They were only a block away from the shop when they heard a familiar voice.

"Rose!"

They turned around to see Mark jogging towards them.

"Hello, Mrs. Lovett." He said when he finally reached them. He turned to Rose and took her arms in his hands. "You're trying to take this beautiful creature away from me, I see." He said playfully. Mrs. Lovett gave a courtesy laugh.

"We were just heading to the park for a picnic if you'd like to join us." She suggested. She really didn't want him to go with, but she knew it was the proper thing to do. She could tell Mr. Todd didn't really want him to go with either by the way he tapped her with his elbow and the frown he gave her.

"Well I wouldn't want to impose, so I guess I'll just see her some other time."

"Well if you insist!" Mrs. Lovett replied without missing a beat. She and Sweeney turned to walk away, but they had only gone a few feet when Nellie felt Toby tap her arm.

"Um, Ma'am?"

She turned her head to see that he was looking back. She and Mr. Todd turned around to see that Rose was not following. She walked back to get the girl.

"Come on, Rosey." She said taking her arm. Rose fought back. "What's the matter?"

"I don't think she wants to go." Toby observed.

"Well, she can't stay at home."

"I could stay with her." Mark offered. Mrs. Lovett just looked at him. Toby could tell that she didn't want to trust anyone with her surrogate daughter. He had to say something.

"Ma'am, maybe we should give her more time. Uh…" he leaned closer to Mrs. Lovett to whisper, "remember what happened last time we went out." He could tell that she was still reluctant. "What could happen?"

No one said anything for a moment.

"Well," Mrs. Lovett finally said quietly, "I suppose…"

Mark looked at Toby and smiled. When she didn't say anything else he thanked her, and walked Rose back to the shop. Mrs. Lovett watched them go back. Mr. Todd walked up behind her and took her arm.

"She'll be fine." He assured her… and partly himself. "There's nothing we can do about it now."

-;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;-

Cat walked on the counter under Rose's hand and purred. Rose stood behind the counter and Mark watched from the table where he was seated.

"So…" He had no idea of what to say or do. "uh, this is where you live."

Rose looked at him with her head still downward.

"What do you do when Mrs. Lovett is busy?"

She looked back down at the cat. Mark still didn't know what to do. He wanted to look around, but he didn't want to intrude. He stood up and walked to the doorway to the pallor. Rose followed him. He saw her walking to him and he stepped into the other room and looked around. Rose leaned on the door frame and watched.

"This is cozy." He turned to face her. "Where do you sleep?"

Rose straightened up and sauntered over to the hallway on the other side of the room. When they reached her room he stepped in after her and looked around. "Looks like you've got the best room in the house." He didn't know what else to say, but he didn't want to say nothing. Rose stood by the window and watched him sit down on the bed. "Soft." He bounced a little on the mattress. "Its nice."

Rose shuffled to the bed and sat next to him. The cat entered and jumped up onto her lap. Mark watched her pale hands as they gently stroked the yellow fur. He remembered how soft her skin felt and he couldn't resist taking her hand in his own. Her skin was so soft that he almost feared that she would break. He led her hand to his lips and placed a tender kiss on the spot just above 

her knuckles. He looked inter her glowing yellow eyes and saw that she was looking back into his green/hazel eyes. He looked at her red glossy lips and remembered their softness. He couldn't help himself at this point. They still had that same bramble taste. He suddenly realized what he was doing and pulled away.

"Sorry. I'm so sorry." He shook his head and looked away. "I shouldn't have…"

Rose placed her hands on either side of his face and turned him to look at her. She pulled him closer to her and placed her lips on his.

(I don't feel like changing the rating, so basically they end up having sex.)

They both lay under the warm covers and Rose rested her head on Marks bare chest. Her eyes were barely open.

"Mark?" She whispered tiredly. He 'hm'd (idk how to write that) in response as his fingers played in her soft curls. "I love you, too."

He rested his hand and Rose's eyes closed.

-;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;- -;-

Mrs. Lovett sat on the blanket with a sad expression on her face. To her left sat a young tired boy staring out at the park before him. To her right sat a very distant looking man who stared out at nothing in particular. She thought about what she had just said to the barber. She didn't think it was such a bad idea. They could be married in a nice little church and give Toby and the girls a nice proper family with a proper mother and father. They could live by the seaside just like her aunt Nettie. She remembered that Rose was at home with that sailor.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" Toby's voice sounded distant and it took her a moment to react.

"Hm? Oh, yes, I'm fine." She said quickly before turning to Mr. Todd. "Mr. T? I think we ought to be getting back soon, don't you?"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

When they got back Toby headed straight for the gin. Mr. Todd followed Mrs. Lovett into her home. She became worried when they found that Rose and Mark weren't in the parlor.

"Why ain't they here?" Nellie wondered out loud.

"They're probably in the bedroom." Sweeney suggested. He went to the kitchen to get a glass of gin, and Mrs. Lovett went down the hall to Rose's bedroom. She nearly had a heart attack when she got there.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Mark jolted awake at the woman's shouts and fell off the bed. Rose woke slowly.

"Mrs. Lovett! Uh…" He scrambled to put his pants back on.

"What did you think you were doing? You have no right to come in here and, and… you filthy sailor! Get out of this house right now!"

Sweeney had made it to the door just as Mark pulled on his shirt and ran out of the bedroom, almost knocking him over as he ran passed.

"I don't ever want to see you in this house again you, you, cradle robber!" Mrs. Lovett shouted from her post at the bedroom.

"What happened?" Sweeney questioned. He knew the answer as soon as he saw Rose. The blanket covered only the most secret parts of her body. "I'll kill him."

Mrs. Lovett didn't bother to look at him as he stormed off. She rushed over to help Rose, who still looked a tad bewildered from sleep.

"Rose." She pulled the girl out of bed and pulled her over to the closet. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted him."

Rose took a moment to process what had just happened as Mrs. Lovett yammered on, pulling out clothes and helping her on with them. Finally her head had cleared enough for her to hear the woman's words.

"Oh, Rose." She said breathlessly. "I know you don't know what you did, but that…"

"I know what I did."

Mrs. Lovett froze. She whipped around to face her, still clutching the dress she had been examining. She was speechless. She didn't know whether she should be more surprised at what the girl said or the fact that she said it so clearly.

"What?" She whispered.

"I-I know w-what I did."

Mrs. Lovett could hardly speak. Her face looked almost maddened with angry shock. Her breathes came out in gasps, like little mad laughs.

"Oh." She inched back strangely. "Do you now?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. Her eyes were wide and the corners of her mouth turned upward slightly. "Well then." She dropped 

the dress as she continued her strange backward walk. Her face finally lost its mad expression as she turned around to step out of the room. She closed the door slowly and quietly.

I don't know what else to right for this chapter.


	12. Crimson Rose

Nellie was upstairs in Sweeney's shop trying to appease his anger as he marched around by the chair, razor in hand trying to plot his revenge.

"Mr. T, you need to think logically!"

"Just find him," he said to himself "how do I find him? Where would he be?"

"Mr. Todd!" She tried to stand in front of him, but he was going too fast. "You can't kill Mark. He's Anthony's best friend!"

"Rose is practically your daughter, Mrs. Lovett. Are you telling me that you don't care that that piece of shit… to your would be daughter?"

"Of course I care, but what would Anthony think? Anthony is our only way to Johanna."

At that he abruptly came to a halt.

"I keep telling you, Mr. Todd," she continued quietly "just wait."

Sweeney sauntered over to the table and gazed at his daughter's picture.

"You're always telling me to bloody wait."

They stood in silence. Nellie couldn't stand it. She had to break the silence, but she didn't want to upset him even more.

"The rose was lovely, Sweeney." She whispered. He didn't respond. He merely dropped the hand that held the picture to his side. "Why don't you get some rest?" She said as she walked to the door. "Have some tea; calm your nerves."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Another week went by and so came another Sunday. Mrs. Lovett cleaned her shop, getting it ready for the next day. Rose stood off to the side playing with her cat. She hadn't made a sound since Mrs. Lovett caught her and Mark in there intimate moment together.

Mrs. Lovett was wiping of her hands on a rag when the jingling of the shop's bell broke her from her thoughts. She looked up to see a familiar ragged looking old crazed woman entering.

"What are you doing here?" Mrs. Lovett hissed, her eyes wide. What would she do if Mr. Todd found _her_ here… his Lucy… alive? "How many times have I told you? I'll not have trash from the gutter hanging around here my establishment." She rushed over to the mad beggar woman to try and push her out.

"Not even a penny dear? How about one of those nice juicy pies that give the stomach cramps to half the neighborhood?" She spat.

"Out with you!" Mrs. Lovett pushed her towards the door.

"Come on, dear. Have a heart dear." She said; sarcasm dripping from her crusted lips.

"Out with you, I say, or I'll give you a good kick in the rear that'll have your teeth shatter!"

The crazy woman just laughed sardonically.

"You and your fancy airs." She growled while Mrs. Lovett continued struggling to push her out of the door. "Witch! Witch!" She screatched.

Meanwhile, Rose had grown bored. The cat had fallen asleep so she played with the fancy tools behind Mrs. Lovett's counter. She found one object that particularly intrigued her. She hardly seemed to notice the fight going on between the two older women.

The beggar threw the baker to the floor. Mrs. Lovett stared up at her in shock.

"N-now now dear." Mrs. Lovett stuttered. This woman was unusually strong. She could tell Lucy was about to pounce on her so she instinctively threw her arm in front of her to guard her face. She was ready for the attack, but instead all she heard was a strange gagging sound. She slowly moved her arm to see a wide eyed beggar. Her body jerked back for a moment and slowly started to fall forwards. Mrs. Lovett scrambled out of the way. She watched as blood pooled from her back and onto the kitchen floor. Slowly she turned her gaping face toward the spot where Lucy had been standing. In her place was a blood covered Rose examining the sharp side of a clever.

"Rose," she whispered "what have you done?"

Rose cast her eyes away from the clever and onto the dead woman sprawled out on the cold hard floor.

"Pretty."

Mrs. Lovett's body froze. Her lungs breathing hard was the only movement she could make. Suddenly she snapped to her senses.

"Oh, dear." She reached down to grab the body. "We've got to clean up this mess. Rose, grab her feet."

She and Rose managed to drag the corpse down to the bake house and throw it into the fire. Mrs. Lovett watched the flames consume the body of her old "friend" from years ago. She didn't speak until there was no more trace of flesh.

"Rose." She said softly, turning around a moment later. "What am I going to do with you?"

That was pretty much just to take care of the Lucy problem. Hopefully the next chapters will have more meat, no pun intended.


	13. Rose Bud

Mrs. Lovett awoke to a strange sound coming from the bathroom. She got out of bed and hurriedly pulled on her robe. She rushed to the bathroom door and knocked.

"Hello?" She called. She heard another gagging noise. "Rose?" She slowly pushed the door open little by little and found Rose kneeling over the toilet. She ran to her side. "Are you alright darling?"

Rose straightened up and nodded. She hadn't vomited, but she had felt close to it.

"Come on" Mrs. Lovett helped her up "let's get you dressed."

Mrs. Lovett took Rose to her room to help her on with her dress. She struggled with the green dress.

"That's funny." Mrs. Lovett said before pulling it off. "I wonder why it won't go on. Let's try the blue one." Mrs. Lovett tried to lace up the back, but Rose grunted. "What's the matter?"

"Tight." Rose squeaked.

"Too tight?" Mrs. Lovett frowned "But it can't be any looser." Her eyes widened in realization. "Oh, no. Oh, no." She gasped and dropped down onto the bed. Her hand went to her mouth. "What will Mr. Todd think?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Anthony sat on a bench to rest his feet. He had been worrying over Johanna for so long it was starting to make him ill. He looked around the street and saw his friend walking toward him. He hoped Mark would have some good news.

"Mark!" He shouted happily, but as he came nearer his face dropped. Mark's face told him that he must not have had any luck either.

"Hello, Anthony." Mark said sadly as he sat down on the bench next to his friend. He didn't know how to tell Anthony about Johanna. He had other things on his mind and he didn't want to sound like he didn't care about his best friend's predicament.

"You didn't have any luck either I suppose." Anthony said equally as disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Anthony."

They sat in silence. Neither knew what to say.

"Anthony," Mark thought of what to say "while you were searching for the love of your life I… something happened between me and mine. I don't want you to think I haven't been helping you, but… well… you know how it is."

"It's alright, Mark. If the situation were the other way I would do the same."

Mark sighed.

"Well, I don't know about that." He said quietly. Anthony frowned. "You're not the only one who made a big mistake. Neither one of us may ever see our loves again."

"Mark, what happened?" He didn't want his best friend to lose his love as he had.

"I slept with her."

"You slept with her."

Mark nodded.

"You slept with her? Forgive me for sounding rude, but I don't see the problem here. I mean I know its wrong, butt…"

"The problem," Mark interrupted "is that I slept with her and Mrs. Lovett and Mr. Todd walked in on us."

Anthony's eyebrows disappeared in his hair somewhere.

"Ohh…" He sat frozen, his mouth a perfect 'o'.

"Yes."

Neither of them spoke.

"Mark." Anthony stated.

"Yes?"

"Go back to her."

"What?" Mark shouted. "Did I hear you correctly?"

"Yes." Anthony said matter-of-factly. "Go back to her."

"And allow myself to be killed?"

"You half married her, Mark, there's no going back now. He'll probably only kill you if you refuse to marry her." He smiled.

"Oh that makes me feel loads better." He stared at the ground for a few moments "Alright!" He stated more confidently. "I guess I'll go."

"Good!" Anthony smiled. Mark looked at him for a moment before sighing and shaking his head.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


	14. Roses and Baby's Breath

**Sorry guys. It's probably not going to be as good as it could be from now on. I got bored with it and now I just want to get it finished.**

Mrs. Lovett had a hard time telling Mr. Todd about Rose's condition. Rose had been like a daughter to him. She'd never seen him so angry, even when he found out about what the Judge did to his family.

That afternoon the shop was fairly calm. Mrs. Lovett had just delivered pies to a table of customers when she looked out the window to see Mark. He noticed her looking at him. She motioned for him to come in and he nervously obeyed.

"I expect you're looking for Rose." She said coldly. He nodded. "Follow me." She took him into the parlor. "Wait here." She went and got Rose. When Rose entered the room Mrs. Lovett left, but not before giving Mark a look that could kill.

"Rose… you look different." He said quietly, not sure how she would feel about seeing him again after his long absence.

Rose grinned slightly at him and moved his hand over her stomach. He let his hand rest there for a moment. It didn't take him long to figure out what she was trying to tell him. He looked into her eyes.

"You're pregnant?" He whispered.

Rose nodded and he stood up. He wanted to kiss her, but he felt sorry at the same time. Rose seemed to notice this. She wrapped herself in his arms as if to say everything was alright.

"Wroses and Baby's Breath always go together." She said slowly and smiled brightly at him. He smiled back.

"I won't leave you again." He said. With that he planted a tender kiss on her lips. "I have to go for today, though. I don't think Mrs. Lovett has forgiven me yet. And who knows what Mr. Todd will do. I don't think he'd take what happened too lightly."

Rose smiled and he smiled back before giving her one last kiss.


End file.
